Best Christmas Present

This isn't really about my genealogy research.

I have been doing Christmas shopping for the last couple weeks. Since our girls are grown and Cedric's list

is pretty long and specific, the only Christmas presents that require a lot of work are those for my nieces and nephews.

Shopping for them means finding something unique that parents or grandparents won't buy and something that can be shipped to them easily, since none of them live in our area.

It reminded me of the present I received from my Aunt Anna Dean and her husband Julian when I was about 9 or 10. I think it was right after they got married. Anna Dean had lived with us in Tallahassee while she was going to college so maybe she felt an obligation to buy a nice present that year. Maybe having a new husband helped.

Anyway, they gave me a remote control, gas powered Airplane. It was the largest and most expensive present I had ever received. The best I remember I never even got to use it. My parents convinced me it was not something I could use, too old for me, so they told me I should exchange it for something else.

I don't remember what I got from the exchange but remember the process. I took it to the toy store on Monroe Street in Tallahassee and they gave me almost $100 in credit. I think I went back there several times buying stuff before I used up all the store credit.